Organizing medications/first aid supplies/homeopathics

[Sweet Life]

Our family just had a nasty stomach bug over the weekend :sick and I was reminded how disorganized our medicine cabinet is. I try to keep it organized but then I can never find the things I need, when I need them. Right now I keep our supplements, homeopathics, and essential oils in a cabinet in the kitchen, and first aid supplies, OTC meds and random things in a hall closet. They are a huge mess, or ate least become a huge mess easily, especially if anyone besides me tries to access them.

I need an easy way to organize them, access them, and label them so that I (and others :) ) can easily find and use them.

Also, a related question is how to handle these items for vacations or an emergency go-bag? I hate to have duplicates of everything, but I don't want to have to clean out a closet in an emergency, either. Maybe there is a way to organize it in a tackle box or something that I could grab easily for an emergency and also access it on a day to day basis. :think

What do you do?

[mrsd]

I try to keep things organized by catagory (cold meds, tummy meds)
I also gor through the medicine closet every 4 or so months and throw out expired products. I try to keep things fairly well stocked so I don't have to go out when one of us is ill.

[Happygrl]

I have plastic shoeboxes for the various categories of needs (pain/first-aid, cold/allergies, stomach and misc). I put the items into the various boxes, have a label on the front of the box and then, on top, have a bigger label of the items in the box (detailed & alphabetized for quicker look-up). I started this system many years ago and found it a BIG help. Not only does it make it easy for me to find things and see what we are out of but it also makes it easier for others who may not be as familiar with my box contents as I am. At the very least, the category labels on the front give them a starting point to look for something.

[mommylove]

Thank you for posting this. I have the same problem. And it's even worse at 3:00 in the morning. :ph

My only advice is to keep the essential oils away from the homopathics since some of them will antidote homeopathics (Thieves, eucalyptus, tto, peppermint, etc.)

I've thought about something like this with labels on the front. http://www.spacesavers.com/13drstca.html

:popcorn for more ideas.

[tree_hugger]

Here's a pic I took a while back of ours:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/KathleenRay/DSCF5872.jpg

The boxes categories are now:

* pain relief
* coughs and colds
* first aid
* homeopathics and supplements

HTHs a little. :)

[Sweet Life]

Thank you for posting this. I have the same problem. And it's even worse at 3:00 in the morning. :ph

My only advice is to keep the essential oils away from the homopathics since some of them will antidote homeopathics (Thieves, eucalyptus, tto, peppermint, etc.)

I've thought about something like this with labels on the front. http://www.spacesavers.com/13drstca.html

:popcorn for more ideas.

I did not know to keep the eo's away from homeopathics. :ty

And I love that spacesaver esp for the eo's and homeopathics (and other things that come in smaller containers). They seem to just roll around in the other (larger) boxes/drawers I have tried. :tu

[mommylove]

Feeling inspired today, I hit up Dollar Tree to tackle 3 projects -- this being one of them.

I bought a bunch of plastic boxes (similar to Tree Huggers, but smaller) and I've got everything placed. :) I went with the boxes over the spacesaver because I couldn't find one locally that had drawers large enough. I'll keep my eyes open for the right spacesaver.

Here are my categories:



Allergy
Calming
Cold/Flu/Immune Support
Congestion
Cough
Diaper Rash (I got a bunch of cream as baby shower gifts :shrug3)
Ear Infection
First Aid
Pain Relief
Temperature/Fever

For now, my essential oils are going to stay lined up on the shower ledge in the master bathroom and my homeopathics are going to stay in their designated drawer in the kitchen because they're easy to find where they are. The vitamins/supplements are staying in their cupboard. (Gosh, when I put it like that, it doesn't sound like I did much.)

Yay, thanks Sweet Life for the :poke I needed to get it done.

[Sweet Life]

Thanks mommylove, you inspired *me* to actually finish the task, too. :giggle

So what ended up working for us?

Shoebox size containers for:
First Aid
Cold/Cough/Nausea/Allergy
Pain Relief/Thermometers
Dental Care

And small containers for:
Ear care
Homeopathics/Calming/Immune Support

We keep all of the above in a hall closet near our bedrooms.

My essential oils are up in a kitchen cabinet above our daily supplements. I like to keep them there because I often put them into cleaning supplies or burn them in the diffuser.

Extra supplements are in the basement with our food storage items.

[Aerynne]

I prefer spice racks to boxes.

I have first aid supplies in my old Caboodle from middle school (I don't even know if they still make those anymore)

[Sweet Life]

I prefer spice racks to boxes.

I have first aid supplies in my old Caboodle from middle school (I don't even know if they still make those anymore)

That's a great idea. I was just going to come back to post that I still don't have a solution for taking things on a trip and that would work perfectly. Easy to grab and go. :tu